Letter: Goose Rocks Beach for all (Sept. 5, 2008)
Editor:
[In Response to a meeting scheduled for Sept. 2 at the Goose Rocks Beach Firehouse hosted by the Goose Rocks Beach Beachfront Property Owners. The meeting was later cancelled]
My wife’s family owns property on Goose Rocks Beach proper and her ancestors have been walking up and down the beach for more than 100 years, as do thousands of people every year. We feel extremely fortunate (lucky?) to be at this beach each summer and we welcome any person to walk down the access path on one edge of the property and use any part of the beach.
Recently, the so-called “Ad Hoc Steering Committee for the Goose Rocks Beach Beachfront Property Owners” are attempting to claim that the entire beach (down to the low water mark!) is their own private property. Some of these owners have fenced off portions of the beach in front of their houses and have placed “No Access” signs at clearly marked public access paths (paths established by the town of Kennebunkport). These owners are now engaging lawyers and hosting meetings. For the most part, these owners are not “Mainers;” like me, they are from somewhere else.
Two fundamental questions arise from these activities. What precisely is the problem? Today the United States is faced with health care and other domestic issues, decisions on the occupation of Iraq, and now Russia is rattling its saber. But, apparently these owners feel that someone walking on the beach is now a “problem” that must be solved with lawyers, meetings and potentially expensive litigation the town of Kennebunkport will have to pay for.
Secondly, why are these owners trying to prevent their neighbors from walking on the beach? The owners would have you believe that unwashed hordes of teenagers are descending upon the beach and leaving behind mountains of beer bottles. Not true. The people using the beach are their neighbors (and their tenants) who, not being fortunate enough to own beachfront property, live on the many small streets of the community. Many of these people of the community also have ancestors who have been using the access paths and beach for more than 100 years. It is these people of the community that the beachfront property owners are trying to exclude. Why? I am reminded of “Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss.
The town must ensure that Goose Rocks Beach and its access paths remain, as it has for many more than 100 years, a beach for all people to enjoy.
Jonathan O. Scott
Minneapolis, Minn.
It is not the intent of the GRB Beach front Property Owners Association to deny anyone access to Goose Rocks Beach. The intent of the association is to keep GRB the beautiful peaceful place that it is for generations to come. Currently there are a large number of development projects in the works (and large tracts of land up for sale) that the town has approved with an eye towards tourism and not preservation. All of the residents of GRB should be concerned and should be educating themselves about their rights and about the motives of the town.
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If it is "not the intent of the GRB Beach Front Property Owners Association to deny anyone access to Goose Rocks Beach", then why is it that this group is behaving in such an inappropriate fashion? I expect better behavior from my neighbors. perhaps, those that live "on" the beach should consider including all of us at Goose Rocks Beach in on their little schemes.
It seems to me, that the "beach front" crowd have forgotten what the beach is all about, what it has and should mean to all of us. To remind you, it's called FAMILY. For the majority of us, we have our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents to thank for finding a way to make this beach our summertime homes. What would they think of you and your conduct now? Most importantly, the lessons that are being passed on to our children are certainly not conducive to their proper upbringing.
It seems to me, that it has been forgotten that this place has been a gift from God, a gift, that for whatever reason, we have been blessed with. Every grain of sand on our beautiful beach should be appreciated and all of us who pay taxes on that beach should be permitted to use it - all of it.
You might be surprised, GRB BFPOA, to find out that we, as well, are not happy with the development that Mr. Harrington and others have been permitted to do. The thoughts of trolleys and buses traveling through our beach is frightening. You wonder why so many of us didn't want port-a-potties or GRB stickers. Even the road race has brought too many people to this beach.
It used to be The General Store, The Tides, the 4th of July bon fires and The Community House that brought us all together. Before that, Buttsie's, the Fireman's Fair, The gentlemen on Wildwood, the hairdresser on King's Highway. Have we forgotten the bowling alley, the Saturday night dances, The Belvedere? Have we forgotten the history of this beach?
So, my dear neighbors, smarten up. Start behaving like the good neighbors I know you are. We all should be working together to ensure that GRB is here for generations for us all to enjoy, to continue to build those FAMILY memories. It is our responsibility to carry on the traditions and meaning of family, as our parent's would expect us to do. It is our job to ensure that every single tax payer is part of the plan, not excluded.
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You make an excellent point, Anonymous! It's so sad to see that a group has locked arms and want to keep everyone off "our" beach. It saddens me to think that my children and (someday) grandchildren, may not be able to continue to walk the beach their great-grandfather walked, simply because our "family" home is one street in from the beach.
Great Grandpa used to walk down the "public access" path to see his his great grandaughters playing in the sand. He'd wave to his old friends, introduce his family to everyone and had so much to be proud of. HIS father (yes, it goes way back)found a great little beach "community" that each year was the vacation destination for the family - for the entire summer. We have all grown up there, and have always felt at home. So why must the beachfront property owners want to change all of that? Shut us out? Are we now divided into "beachfront owners" and "other"?
Those profoundly affected by what's being attempted here by the GRB BFPOA are the property owners (also tax payers) right "across" the street; your neighbors! It doesn't seem very neighborly to shut us out of "our own" beach, does it? The message you're sending is one of "division", "turf", and "privacy".
I'm feeling sadness that such a lovely community - our beach home - may be changed from a "friendly" community, to one of those in which "no trespasing" signs are posted everywhere, leaving everyone to feel unwelcome in their own neighborhood.
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